MILWAUKEE — It’s been a year of firsts for the NASA space program.

From Falcon 9’s recent launch at Cape Canaveral making Space X’s 25th mission this year, to the first crops planted in outer space. 

Engineer and former flight controller at NASA Lori McDonald shares a personal connection with trips through the solar system. She spent five years in the late 90’s as a flight controller for NASA’s space shuttle program. Then, she worked closely with colleagues from a memorable mission.

“I was a part of the team, if you watched Apollo 13 in Mission Control,” said McDonald.

An engineering student at Purdue University at the time and one of few women, McDonald said NASA embraced diversity and promoted leadership training.

“We would practice for many things to go wrong but we would do this in simulations so that those would not happen in the real life events,” she said.

It’s also where she met her husband, a fellow NASA flight controller. Together, in 1998 they moved to Milwaukee we’re Lori would later open doors to her own Brilliance Business Solutions firm downtown. Here, Lori gets to continue in her passion for space.   Using her NASA background in engineering and digital science, she helps companies launch websites and transition their brands successfully online.

Twenty years later, McDonald and her husband now pass down that same love for exploring the universe to their two sons.

“They’re both very interested in science and entrepreneurship which isn’t a surprise based on my background,” she said.

McDonald hopes missions to other planets will continue so younger generations can keep improving our way of life.

Those interested can earn more about Lori’s firm at www.brillianceweb.com.